1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a one-piece knuckle bracket formed as a bent-to-shape part including a pair of support bodies having axially aligned openings for receiving an outer casing of a shock absorber, a web connecting the support bodies, and a pair of tabs for fixing the shock absorber to a joint.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,547 discloses a one-piece knuckle bracket, designed as a bent-to-shape part, comprising two support bodies a certain distance apart, each with an opening to receive an outer casing of a strut-type shock absorber, where a connecting web and tabs are provided between the support bodies for the attachment of the shock absorber to a joint.
The support bodies are blanked out at the ends of a flat piece of sheet metal and then bent into a knuckle bracket by several bending operations. The length of the sheet-metal blank consists of the length of the connecting web between the support bodies and a certain length for each of the tabs for connection to the joint. The width is composed of the distance between the tabs and their length.
DE 196 47 411 describes an attachment bracket for a vibration damper, which also is designed in the form of a one-piece, bent-to-shape part. In the case of the designs according to FIGS. 1-3, parallel slits are made in a flat sheet-metal blank to determine the shape of a shell part, made later. Then the sheet-metal blank is formed into a U-shaped bracket, which has a sleeve-like circumferential part. A collar is now formed on the edges of the circumferential part. The circumferential sections are extended to form transverse webs, so that the shell part has two layers over a certain distance and also projects radially outward to a certain extent. As a result, the shell part proceeding toward the center can have the same inside diameter as the circumferential part, which is now divided into two sections. As can be derived from this description, there is a certain complexity involved in producing this attachment bracket. Although the circumferential part is strengthened by the collar, a circumferential part of this type is not as strong as a support body according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,547.